• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 14, 2016

Google paid search spend in the U.S. during Q2 2016 fell slightly year-over-year (YoY) among IgnitionOne customers, the company reported Thursday. A greater click share from mobile where cost per clicks (CPCs) are lower drove slower spend growth. 

The 1% decline in spend last quarter was an improvement compared with the 5% drop in Q1 2016, as advertisers spent more to advertise on smartphone, growing ad spend by 55% in the quarter year-over-year. CPCs for smartphone remained half of desktop.

The decline in the amount that advertisers spent last quarter was driven primarily by the finance and the travel sectors, declining 7% and 12%, respectively, compared with the same quarter in the previous year.

Marketers in the education sector spent 42% more. It was the only sector to see an increase in CPCs, up 14%, compared with the year-ago quarter,

Impressions in Q2 2016 rose 13% with more mobile inventory available, and clicks rose 10% year-over-year. Smartphone impressions rose 46% and clicks jumped a whooping 69%, compared to the year-ago quarter. Click through rates rose 16% on smartphones and fell 23% on tablets.

U.S. programmatic display spend was relatively flat in the quarter, growing 1%, compared with Q2 2015, The quarter also saw Google taking the lead in terms growth, up 35% YoY while spend in Facebook increased 22% YoY. 

Among its customers, IgnitionOne also saw across a wide range of European clients a decrease in Web site visitors in Q2 2016, down 21% YoY.

However, while overall visitors have dropped, marketers are using solutions to drive improved results by communicating to the most qualified visitors with custom interactions increasing 99% YoY, driving leads up 41% overall.